Littleover Bowls Club-Floodlight Upgrade 2025

Aim: Our floodlights were installed 40 yrs ago, and now not all of them work! We want to move to LED lights, more energy efficient and brighter.

• Who are we?

Littleover Crown Green Bowls Club was established in 1936, and is now one of the largest in the Derby area. It has 2 bowling greens and a membership of over 90 players and social members, of all ages and sexes. Our youngest member is 12, whilst our oldest is 100 years old! 

• Unlike a lot of other sports, age, or some sort of disability does not usually prevent participation.
•  Currently we have 23 men's, ladies and mixed teams that compete in the South Derbyshire, Belper & District, and Burton-on-Trent leagues.
• We are proud to say that for many years we have been one of the most successful clubs in these leagues, winning many league and county competitions.
• Matches take place throughout the week and weekends, in the afternoons and evenings.
•  During the early and later parts of the season, April / September, we have teams who play in the leagues where the floodlights are needed to be able to play matches, which without them this would not be possible.
• Each green is open to members every day of the week during the season which normally runs from April to September.
• Last year our greens were used to host the finals of a number of local league competitions, county matches, the semi-final of a national club competition, as well as the final of the All England Ladies Doubles competition
• This year we will host the final of the All England Ladies Singles competition, when regional tournament winners will compete to see who will be the best bowler in the country.

Why are we crowdfunding?

• Some floodlights are not working.
• Or are NOT energy inefficient
• Or are otherwise affecting the enjoyment of our members and visiting teams, and which is holding us back from attracting new members and being the chosen venue for major competitions.

All this makes playing at the start and the end of the season, when daylight is failing or has fallen, very difficult or impossible.

With this funding, our plan is to upgrade to more energy efficient LED floodlights which will also hopefully last for another 40+years

How we’ll spend the money raised

The total cost for installing new LED floodlights, will be in the order of £10,416. All the monies raised will be used to fund this project.

Sport England Movement Fund, has generously offered us £5208 in the form of a pledge, conditional our raising another £5208 from pledges from at least 25 unique contributors through this Crowdfunder.

We hope  that the upgrade can take place later during the bowling season, but certainly before September, in time for the start of the winter leagues.

Community impact

We continue to build relationships with a number of other sporting, and community groups in the Littleover and Derby area, such as Carlisle Against Crime and the Derby Taekwondo Club, who will be able to make full use of our clubhouse and facilities throughout the year.

Better lighting will benefit not only bowlers, but also members of the local community, who will be more likely to spectate, as well as take up this sport, and use the club facilities. 

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

If you're applying for extra funding, this is a good place to demonstrate why your project is eligible so refer back to the criteria to help complete this section.